Bell House stage for Norah Jones

Bell House stage for Norah Jones

GOWANUS — The Bell House announced yesterday that it would host Cobble Hill's Norah Jones on Friday night. Tickets go on sale at noon tomorrow.

The popular jazz–soft rock singer will perform tracks from her new album, "Little Broken Hearts."

Jones has performed in the borough on several occasions, including as the opening act for the 2010 season of Celebrate Brooklyn concerts in Prospect Park; at St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO for a taping of PBS’ "Soundstage"; and last January at the Bell House with the Little Willies, a country-rock band that is one of her side projects.

A native of Bedford-Stuyvesant, she was living in a modest apartment above a barbershop in Williamsburg when her debut CD, "Come Away With Me," won five Grammys in 2003.

In January 2009, she bought an 1843 townhouse on Amity Street near Clinton Street, in the Cobble Hill Historic District, for a reported $4,990,000.

Jones sought permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to cut 10 windows into the side of her house, generating considerable controversy.

Cobble Hill Association President Roy Sloane felt that the windows would compromise the historic appearance of the row house, since a survey of pre-1850 row houses showed that at least half didn’t have windows on their side walls and those that did had them as a result of later installations. Eventually, a compromise was reached and she had agreed to reduce the number of side-wall windows to seven.

Despite the windows firestorm, Sloane told the Eagle yesterday, "Everybody seems to like her, nobody has anything bad to say about her personally. I would say she definitely is a local favorite."

Yuri Kwan, spokeswoman for Celebrate Brooklyn, recalled her appearance there two years ago: "It was a benefit concert, and she and Pamela Brier, president of Maimonides Medical Center, were both honored. It was a very rainy night, but several thousand people came there nonetheless."

Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar — known in the West through his association with Beatle George Harrison and classical violinist Yehudi Menhuin — and American concert performer Sue Jones.

The Bell House is located at 149 Seventh St. near Second Avenue. Tickets to Norah Jones’ show are $35 each, with a two-ticket-per-person limit. The venue holds about 500 people for this standing event, said director of events Andrew Mum.